M Lekota: Africa Aerospace and Defence 2006

20 September 2006

The recent elections in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) involved
the largest air operation ever carried out on the African continent. (This
includes air operations conducted during World War 2).

In the first round of the elections the South African Air Force (SAAF)
carried on 67 flights, 1, 921 tons of election material in 4, 732 freight
pallets. This cargo was transported firstly to three hubs in the DRC and then
onto 14 main centres which then delivered to 53 000 voting stations in the DRC.
The aircraft used were our C130s and a range of chartered aircraft including
M126 helicopters, Boeing 747, Antonov 124 and IL 76. The South African Air
Force flew this material into the DRC over a period of 14 days flying day and
night.

The 120 South African observers were flown out of Pretoria to Lubumbashi and
Kinshasa, and to 24 main centres in the DRC covering all 11 provinces. Smaller
aircraft like Citations, Cessna and King Air were used to carry the election
observers their water and food. The versatility of helicopters also must be
mentioned in this context. Their range extended from reconnaissance expeditions
to carriers of personnel and equipment to fighter capability, all central to
peacekeeping operations of one kind or another.

The size of the DRC and the huge distances to be traversed, coupled with the
lack of infrastructure meant the operation had to be carried out by air. At
first equipment was shipped to Dar es Salaam in Tanzania and then airlifted to
the DRC. Later we flew directly to the DRC. Everything had to fit into the C130
our largest carrier.

The second phase of the elections in the DRC, the election for the President
started last Saturday, 16 September. We will be flying in 1,250 tons of
election material on a total of 58 flights. Last month (August) we sent 38
Mambas (190 tons), 3 Lads (18 tons), 500 kilograms of signal equipment,
weapons, and 1,5 tons of ammunition to the Sudan by air.

The massive transformation South Africa has been undergoing since 1994 with
the introduction of democracy and the change in defence posture from offensive
to defensive has led to our increasing involvement in peacekeeping operations.
Whilst we have scored many successes on this front, we are also on a steep
learning curve. We have found, for example, that it is easier to use the Boeing
747 than the Antonov 24 because the mouth of the cargo hold is bigger and it is
therefore much easier to load freight pallets.

The equipment needed for peacekeeping ranges from the smallest items to
heavy military equipment all determined by conditions on the ground. We have
also found that peacekeeping extends beyond the direct mandate of 'defence' and
that the involvement of other spheres of government in both the approach to the
operation, the planning as well as the execution, gives the operation in its
totality a much greater reach. This approach is now captured in our new draft
white paper on Peace Missions.

It's not the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) that's involved in
peace missions; it's the people of South Africa represented by nearly every
government department.

South Africa is spending so much time and effort on peacekeeping because
peace and stability are the foundation for sustainable development. Our
continent of Africa has been torn apart by the greed of outside role players to
access its considerable mineral wealth and natural resources. In the wake of
this devastation, there is internal conflict over the shortage of
resources.

We have inherited dire poverty and squalor, inadequate infrastructure if
any, very little education, skills or capacity. Let's not forget that
environmental harm through drought, pollution floods and other natural
disasters have a severe impact on people. But equally the environmental
degradation that accompanies conflict and war such as landmines, unexploded
ordinance and the rusting carcasses of useless planes and tanks are an ever
present danger and will take enormous time, money, training and effort to
remove once and for all.

The transformation of South Africa involves amongst other things, achieving
greater equality between the privileged white minority and previously
disadvantaged black majority. This is seen as an important stimulator of
economic growth.

One of the "cutting edge interventions" outlined in the South African
government's vision 2014 is the re-positioning of the aerospace industry as a
future growth industry.

This year saw the establishment of the National Aerospace Centre of
Excellence. This represents the latest intervention by government to fast track
the process of upgrading the South African Aerospace Industry and positioning
this as part of the global aerospace supply chain. This is a national
programme, sponsored and supported by the Department of Trade and Industry and
hosted and managed by the University of the Witwatersrand. It represents a
national collaboration between government, industry, academia and research
institutions around partnership principles for the provision and co-ordination
of specialised skills, programmes and services for the improved competitiveness
of the South African aerospace industry.

The scope of activity is focused on the South African aerospace industry
with aerospace defined as "the technology of flight in any of its forms" and
includes aeronautics and space technology as well as technologies related to
support systems.

The Accelerated and Shared Growth Initiative for South Africa (AsgiSA)
includes initiatives to foster integration of the domestic aeronautics and
defence supply chains with global supply chains, creating supplier clusters
with well defined and internationally recognised areas of competence (e.g.
composite materials and avionics), transformation and deepening of the supply
chains and leveraging notably strategic defence needs to identify cardinal
projects to the benefit of the domestic industry.

At the same time I must warn against strategies for our industry that might
undermine our own systems design engineering and integration capabilities as a
country. Our strength has been to develop missiles to reconfigure the Mirage
into the Cheetah; in other words, systems engineering.

The A400M programme is a case in point linking South Africa into the global
supply chain for airbus designed to maintain South Africa's well developed
aerospace engineering and technical innovation expertise.

The aerospace industry has the potential for export growth, value addition
and through international subcontracting arrangements, stimulates industrial
innovation, competitiveness and growth further down the supply chain.
Technologically we must support all efforts to reduce the global impact of
emissions and energy consumption within the aerospace industry.

Based on the existing political and threat environment, the African
"defence" environment has become more complex necessitating a broader scope of
security operations. These include total war theatre and force projection at
the one end of the spectrum to search and rescue and environmental protection
on the other end. Clearly the frequency of operations in terms of peacekeeping,
humanitarian assistance and logistic-related missions are increasing and will
dominate the future South African National Defence Force's operational role,
resulting in requirements for different products and services.

In conjunction with the Department of Public Enterprises we have embarked on
the transformation of the defence and defence related industries. We have
started with a review of the policies guiding the defence industrial complex of
South Africa.

The alignment of defence acquisition policy is critical to support the
development of local defence-related industries. Acquisition policy should be
linked to capital expenditure planning and technology strategy and transfer.
Perhaps the emphasis should shift to considering programmes and projects
(prioritised according to our overall development agenda) rather than the old
fashioned concept of tailoring our needs to our budget.

Thus the changing roles of the SANDF need to be fully understood by the
domestic industry. In turn the local defence-related industry requires forward
information on what the SANDF will purchase to plan production accordingly. I
repeat our commitment to provide clear information on capabilities, systems
equipment and services required in the future.

This will enable industry to work in partnership with the defence force,
plan production and develop the required technology. It is also important that
defence research and evaluation expertise within various state organisations is
rationalised and duplication is avoided to facilitate alignment with technology
strategy and the increased transfer of technology to the local defence related
industry.

Whilst physical infrastructure is the key to sustainable development in
Africa, the use of the skies and space to connect the continent both physically
and digitally through a variety of telecommunications and satellites is central
to technological advance. Part of our defence spending must encourage the
growth of our domestic aerospace industry. Without a strong service industry to
maintain, repair and upgrade our aerospace and defence purchases we would be
wasting our money. The aerospace industry opens up huge opportunities for us
and has been identified as one of our priority areas. Flexibility, mobility and
reach are our watchwords.

I would like to welcome you all to our mother city, Cape Town and to African
Aerospace and Defence 2006.

I thank you!

Issued by: Department of Defence
20 September 2006